“Go,” I tell him, pulling him back down to me so I can kiss him hard. “I know you want to go and make sure this is taken care of. Go.”
He stares down at me, and I realize that everyone has moved away from us, giving us space while having our backs. That feeling of family, of belonging, wraps around me.
“You sure?” When I nod and swallow hard, the reality of what just happened slams into me and I sway slightly. His large hands grip my arms, steadying me and holding me until I can do it on my own. “No, you’re not,” he insists.
“Briggs,” I murmur, “I’ll be fine. I need you to go and end this,” I plead with him. “If you tell me it’s over, I’ll believe you, but right now it’s not over.”
“Damn it,” he grunts before slowly releasing his grip on my arms. “Lets get you inside and then I can take care of this.”
I let him lead me back toward the clubhouse and then to his room without stopping for anything on the way. He’s crouching down in front of me as I sit on the side of the bed before I even know it. The last few minutes are a blur, and I know I’m going to crash.
“Take it easy, Tempest,” he rumbles. “I’ve got this.”
I nod because I don’t trust my voice. I know he’ll do whatever is necessary to keep me safe. The world will be a better place without Geoffrey Wagner in it anyway.
I should feel bad about that, but I don’t.
As Briggs leaves, he looks back at me one more time. Just to make sure I’m okay.
The reality is that I’m not. Not yet. But I will be.
My big, bad biker, who has given me his heart so damn freely, won’t accept anything less.
CHAPTER 17
MAYHEM
There are many people who have been taken to the shed, and all of them deserved to be there. Still, I’ve never been this excited to get to the good part before. It’s all because his existence, the mission he’s given himself, puts my woman in danger. That is simply unacceptable to me.
The shed is built on our land and looks just like you would expect it to. It’s a little rundown and looks like it’s been here just as long as the barn. You would have no idea the horrors this little building has seen. It’s a small structure nestled in the safety of the compound, but what it looks like is purposefully deceptive.
What you can’t see is the basement built underneath and the blood that has been cleaned from its walls many times. You can’t see the souls that have left this mortal plane in the concrete dungeon where the darkest of deeds are confessed and paid for.
I don’t even bother to keep track of the number of peoplewho have paid for their crimes in the shed. Now I can’t help but wonder if there have been dirty cops here before. I know I haven’t dealt with any while I’ve been president.
I’d rather keep the dirty cops on my payroll and where I can see them. As long as they don’t betray the club, it is their own morality they have to answer for. And, frankly, that’s not really any of my business.
But the sins Wagner has committed aren’t against the club. They’re against the man he pretended to be and the wife who trusted him. My woman never asked to be pulled into his darkness, he did that by not being careful with his violence.
It’s time for him to pay the price.
When I walk through the doors of the shed, I lock eyes with each of my officers. These are the men who have sat around the devil’s skull table and looked at me to lead. I think I’ve done a damn good job of it, and part of that is because nothing that has touched the club has been personal.
This is different.
Wagner has been hunting my woman down all because she was a witness to his terrible acts. Even if Addyson wasn’t my woman, Wagner would need to pay for his wrongdoings.
As we always do when we enter the shed, we pull our cuts off and hang them from the hooks set up for this purpose. We all know who we are and the importance of the leather we wear. There’s nothing to prove by wearing them in the basement, and clean-up is a lot easier when everything can be burned.
I’m the first to step through the door leading downstairs. The sound of my boots and those of my brothers following me sounds like thunder.
As I step down into the basement, I make my way to the largest room because it can hold all of the brothers who have joined me to show their support and solidarity. I could have done this on my own, but the brotherhood ensures that I don’t have to.
I don’t have to look at Wagner to know he’s tied to a chair in the middle of the room after being stripped naked. I can feel his anger, but it’s the fear in the air that has me fighting a smile. A normal man wouldn’t be looking forward to this the way I am.
But he made my woman afraid. And it’s his words that have been haunting her for days.
Addyson might not realize it, but she hasn’t been sleeping quite as soundly as she thinks since arriving at my clubhouse. I can always feel the shift in her, when fear is invading her mind while she’s sleeping with my body curled around her. It’s subtle, a little whimper maybe, or the way her body tenses like it’s ready to run.
